Chapter Two: The Lowest Rating

Lin moved a sheet of paper beside the target. Output: twelve. Rank: 997. Headmaster Lu Shenheng watched from the dais, an amiable scholar with no power emblem. “Power is not destiny,” he said, “but stability determines whether you deserve to hold another person's destiny.” His words sounded fair. The system was not. Rankings assigned housing, medicine, and practice hours. The top ten received gold-class medical access; the bottom fifty lost half their basic supplies. Lin's terminal flashed: DIRECT-RELATIVE PRIORITY CARE SUSPENDED DUE TO LOW RATING. That afternoon came the entrance trial. Within three days, every freshman had to seize one floor of the nine-story Training Tower. The bottom fifty who failed would be expelled.